Ever wonder where we, as Christians, belong in the great scheme of things when reading about Israel?  Who or what is Israel?  Is it the Jews only?  Did the church replace Israel altogether?  Does anyone even think about the things of God anymore, to point that they even care?

 

The idea of the church replacing the Old Testament Israel of God is a doctrine of men which is called "Replacement Theology".  Religions and denominations that espouse this belief include Mormonism and Latter Day Saint movement, Jehovas Witnesses, Roman Catholicism, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian. 

I do not believe in Replacement Theology, the beliefs of which include:

 

1.  The Jewish people are no longer God's chosen people.  Instead, the Christian church now makes up God's chosen people.

2.  In the New Testament, after the event of Pentecost, the term "Israel" exclusively refers to the church.

 

However, I do believe that since our beginning the Enemy continues to sow deception with bits of truth, especially within the church itself.  Thus, although I believe that the doctrines of men which found new religions and denominations are an anathema to the Gospel of Christ and the infinite and unchanging truths of God's Holy Word, I am also not close-minded to the possible nuggets of truth which can be gleaned from their misguided theology, such as these additional tenets of replacement theology:

 

1.  Actual circumcision is replaced by a circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29). 

2.  The Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20) is replaced by the new covenant (Luke 22:20).  *[But the Sabbath was instituted at the time of Creation and is talked about being observed in the Millennial Kingdom. I am actively trying to reconcile this and continue to seek clarity and understanding on the matter in prayer and supplication as I study scripture.]

 

Let me be crystal clear on the matter:  I do not adhere to replacement theology, nor lend creedence to the Mormon faith, Latter Day Saint movement or any of the like, which base their beliefs on replacement theology, as a whole, and various perversions of scripture.

 

But, there ARE two distinct Houses of God: 

1.  dispersed Israel

2.  and Judah

The Israel 'House of Joseph' (aka Ephraim and Manasseh) are not the same as the Israel 'House of Judah'.

 

From Ezekiel 37:

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, 'For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions';  Then take another stick, and write upon it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions';  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."

 

Romans 11:25-- 

"For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob,'”.

 

Obviously in this apostolic scripture we are clearly told that God is not done with Israel, therefore it has not been replaced.  However, we are also told that the fullness of the Gentiles is included in the make-up of all of Israel. But like I strongly feel I'm being led to understand, there are two houses of God:  Judah and Israel, both of which are, at times, interchangeably referred to as collective "Israel", thus the confusion on the matter. 

 

Genesis 48:5--

"Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance."

 

The Ephraim and Manasseh that "shall be" Jacob's are the Ephraim and Manasseh that initially inherited the promised land with along with Joshua and made up the united tribes of the early Nation of Israel.  They are ancient Ephraim and Manasseh, the ones of the Northern Kingdom who fell from grace and were exiled as part of the 10 "lost" tribes of  united Israel, Just like Reuben and Simeon.

 

Amos 9:8 –

“'Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom (of Israel), and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,’ saith the Lord. ‘For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.'"

 

The "offspring born after" Jacob's Ephraim and Manasseh, that "shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance", are those of the house of Israel who were broken branches, dispersed among the nations, but who would eventually be "grafted back into the Olive Tree" under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

The word "Gentiles" literally means "peoples" or "nations", so when the blessed Apostle Paul states, "a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in", he is literally stating that a partial hardening has happened to Israel (Judah) until the fullness of the nations has come in (the sifting of the dispersed portion of the House of Israel:  namely the multitude of nations that would be born from Ephraim and Manasseh).

 

Genesis 48:13--

 "And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 the Angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the MIDST of the earth.

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a MULTITUDE OF NATIONS."

 

When the Northern Kingdom of Israel was dispersed, God issued them a certificate of divorce:

 

From Jeremiah 3:

"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also."

 

From Isaiah 50:

"Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce
    with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
    did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold;
    because of your transgressions your mother was sent away."

 

From Hosea 2:

“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband."

 

From Hosea 1:

Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (“not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (“not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

 

These constitute the "broken branches" from the olive tree.

 

From Romans 11:

"If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either."

 

And as we are told will happen at the time of the coming of the Millennial Kingdom, those branches whom God broke off from the Olive Tree and dispersed from the ancient Northern Kingdom, He will call back again in the grafted branches:

 

From Hosea 2:

“In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;              [Christ is the "Bridegroom", His Church the "Bride"]
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.

I will betroth you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
    in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge the Lord.

 I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’               [Lo-Ruhamah]
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;        [Lo-Ammi]
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.

 

But since God issued a certificate of divorce, the return must be through a new covenant:  Jesus Christ.

Those born from the broken branches dispersed from the Northern Kingdom will return through a new covenant as the grafted branches of the fullness of the Nations/Gentiles along with Judah, and God's house will become one again:

 

From Hosea 1:

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel."

 

Jezreel means sown or scattered.  Great will be the day of the re-gathering of the sown and scattered of God's house: 

 

From Jeremiah 3:

"Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angry forever.

'Return, O faithless sons,' declares the LORD; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.'

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding."

 

Compare the scripture below to the Genesis 48 scripture above:

 

From Jeremiah 3:

"It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land," declares the LORD, "they will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.

"In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

"Then I said, 'How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land, The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!' And I said, 'You shall call Me, My Father, And not turn away from following Me.'"

 

Through the Church, God will make one people out of two.  He will reunite Israel and Judah under one house--  Christ's:

 

Romans 15:27-

"For if the Gentiles [dispersed Nations] have shared in the Jews' [Judah's] spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews [Judah] to share with them their material blessings."

 

1 Corinthians 12:13-

"For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews [Judah] or Gentiles [the dispersed Nations], slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."

 

Galatians 3:28-

"There is neither Jew [Judah] nor Gentile [the dispersed Nations], neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

 

Colossians 3:11-

"Here there is no Gentile [dispersed Nations] or Jew [Judah], circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."

 

Eph 3:6-

"This mystery is:  that through the Gospel, the Gentiles [dispersed Nations] are heirs together with Israel [Judah], members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."

 

The Gospel is the New Covenant for the grafted branches of the Olive Tree, which replaces the certificate of divorce for the broken branches of the Olive Tree.  The Olive Tree is still the same Tree, which still possesses some of the same original branches.  The grafted branches will simply SHARE in the blessings and promises of the original branches, they will not REPLACE them.